The cooling and heating equipment inside your home is very complex and requires specialized training to work on safely. Many homeowners have little to no understanding of how all this stuff works together to cool and heat their homes. In order to address this issue, we will answer two common HVAC questions that we get asked regularly.

  1. How Does My Furnace Work?

Most people understand that their furnace is used to heat their home or business. The furnace warms the air and circulates it through living and working areas to heat the space up. Furnaces can be electric, or they could be powered by a heating fuel, such as propane, oil or natural gas. Let’s take a look at how each of these furnace types works.

Electric Furnaces

The electric furnace has heating elements that are used to warm up the air to the desired temperature. The air is passed through the heating elements coming into contact with the electric resistance coils. The heated air is then passed into the air supply, and a blower is used to circulate the treated air to the interior.

Gas Furnaces

The heating cycle of a gas furnace is called for by the adjustments made to the thermostat. When this happens, the ignitor or pilot light will fire up and light the burners contained in the combustion chamber. These burners produce the required heat, and this is then moved into the heat exchanger. Inside the heat exchanger, the heat is transferred to the air that is already circulating through the furnace. A blower is then used to move the heated air via a duct system throughout the home. This system will continue to run until the temperature in the heated room matches that called for by the thermostat.

  1. How Does My AC System Work?

An air conditioner is comprised of four essential elements to make the system work; they are the compressor, evaporator, condenser and expansion device. The indoor air is circulated through this system, it passes over the evaporator coil, and the heat is absorbed from the air. The refrigerant in the coil absorbs heat and then it’s transformed from a liquid into a vapor.

This vaporized refrigerant is then moved to the compressor, which is located in the unit outside. The compressor then compresses the refrigerant vapor increasing the pressure and temperature. Then the refrigerant gas is moved to the condenser which turns the refrigerant back into a liquid while removing the heat. The heat is dispersed via the metal fins located in the external unit. The liquid refrigerant is then moved back inside into the expansion device where it is regulated to flow back into the evaporator coil.

The heat has been extracted from the air, and a blower moves the cooled air around the interior of the home. This cyclical process is repeated until the internal spaces are cooled to the desired temperature. If the cooling performance is impaired, it may be necessary to recharge the refrigerant to the required levels. A lack of air flow could be related to a number of issues, such as a faulty blower, blocked ducts or even a dirty air filter.